Mia is joined by writer and activist Vicky Osterweil to talk about Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery and the grim, shockingly violent history of media monopolies.

@vickyacab.bsky.social

Mia is joined by writer and activist Vicky Osterweil to talk about Paramount&rsquo;s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery and the grim, shockingly violent history of media monopolies.
@vickyacab.bsky.social

It Could Happen Here started as an exploration of the possibility of a new civil war. Now a daily show, it's evolved into a chronicle of collapse as it happens, and an exploration of how we might build a better future. Every day Robert Evans, Garrison Davis, Mia Wong, and James Stout take you on a jaunty walk through the burning ruins of the old world and towards a better one that lays just on the horizon.

It Could Happen Here started as an exploration of the possibility of a new civil war. Now a daily show, it's evolved into a chronicle of collapse as it happens, and an exploration of how we might build a better future. Every day Robert Evans, Garrison Davis, Mia Wong, and James Stout take you on a jaunty walk through the burning ruins of the old world and towards a better one that lays just on the horizon.

It Could Happen Here

Paramount, Warner Bros. and How Monopolies Ruin Everything

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/1de3a92b-7ba6-4cd9-a3b9-b4030163a969/transcript

Mia teaches Molly what shadow banking is, how it caused the 2008 financial collapse, and how they’re threatening to do it all again

Sources:

https://www.fsb.org/work-of-the-fsb/financial-innovation-and-structural-change/non-bank-financial-intermediation/

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/11/shadow-banking-is-now-a-52-trillion-industry-and-posing-risks.html

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7992100/

https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2013/06/basics.htm

https://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/inside-the-cdo-market-that-catalyzed-the-financial-crisis

https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R48512#ifn146

https://www.jstor.org/stable/26153238

https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/media/research/economists/adrian/1306adri_map.pdf

https://tellerwindow.newyorkfed.org/2025/10/17/nbfis-in-focus-the-basics-of-private-credit/

https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/bank-lending-to-private-credit-size-characteristics-and-financial-stability-implications-20250523.html

https://libcom.org/article/debt-first-5000-years-david-graeber

Mia teaches Molly what shadow banking is, how it caused the 2008 financial collapse, and how they&rsquo;re threatening to do it all again
Sources: 
<a href="https://www.fsb.org/work-of-the-fsb/financial-innovation-and-structural-change/non-bank-financial-intermediation/">https://www.fsb.org/work-of-the-fsb/financial-innovation-and-structural-change/non-bank-financial-intermediation/</a>
<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/11/shadow-banking-is-now-a-52-trillion-industry-and-posing-risks.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/11/shadow-banking-is-now-a-52-trillion-industry-and-posing-risks.html</a>
<a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7992100/">https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7992100/</a>
<a href="https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2013/06/basics.htm">https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2013/06/basics.htm</a>
<a href="https://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/inside-the-cdo-market-that-catalyzed-the-financial-crisis">https://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/inside-the-cdo-market-that-catalyzed-the-financial-crisis</a>
<a href="https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R48512#ifn146">https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R48512#ifn146</a>
<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26153238">https://www.jstor.org/stable/26153238</a>
<a href="https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/media/research/economists/adrian/1306adri_map.pdf">https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/media/research/economists/adrian/1306adri_map.pdf</a>
<a href="https://tellerwindow.newyorkfed.org/2025/10/17/nbfis-in-focus-the-basics-of-private-credit/">https://tellerwindow.newyorkfed.org/2025/10/17/nbfis-in-focus-the-basics-of-private-credit/</a>
<a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/bank-lending-to-private-credit-size-characteristics-and-financial-stability-implications-20250523.html">https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/bank-lending-to-private-credit-size-characteristics-and-financial-stability-implications-20250523.html</a>
<a href="https://libcom.org/article/debt-first-5000-years-david-graeber">https://libcom.org/article/debt-first-5000-years-david-graeber</a>

Shadow Banking: The Once and Future Economic Apocalypse

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/9a411962-16e3-4856-bb61-b41801871c5f/transcript

Dana El Kurd speaks to Elia Ayoub, UK-based Lebanese-Palestinian historian, anti-authoritarian writer, and host of The Fire These Times. They talk about Israel’s attacks on Lebanon in recent weeks, what this means for the Lebanese people, the impact on Hezbollah, and broader implications for the world.   

Sources:

Lebanese news source Megaphone news – https://megaphone.news

Elia at +972mag - https://www.972mag.com/israels-renewed-war-on-lebanon-is-about-more-than-just-hezbollah/

Death toll and displacement numbers in Lebanon - https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/22/hezbollah-attack-kills-one-in-north-israel-as-assault-on-lebanon-continues

Nathan Brown on “Israel’s Forever Wars” - https://carnegieendowment.org/middle-east/diwan/2026/03/dominance-degradation-and-debilitation

Land for peace concept - https://archive.unescwa.org/land-peace-principle

Foundation for Defense of Democracy on “Peace for Land” - https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2026/01/23/peace-for-land-not-land-for-peace/

The book Beware of Small States - https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/david-hirst/beware-of-small-states/9780786744411/?lens=bold-type-books

The Fire These Times podcast - https://thefirethesetimes.com/

Dana El Kurd speaks to Elia Ayoub, UK-based Lebanese-Palestinian historian, anti-authoritarian writer, and host of The Fire These Times. They talk about Israel&rsquo;s attacks on Lebanon in recent weeks, what this means for the Lebanese people, the impact on Hezbollah, and broader implications for the world.&nbsp; &nbsp;
Sources:
Lebanese news source Megaphone news &ndash; <a href="https://megaphone.news">https://megaphone.news</a>
Elia at +972mag - <a href="https://www.972mag.com/israels-renewed-war-on-lebanon-is-about-more-than-just-hezbollah/">https://www.972mag.com/israels-renewed-war-on-lebanon-is-about-more-than-just-hezbollah/</a>
Death toll and displacement numbers in Lebanon - <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/22/hezbollah-attack-kills-one-in-north-israel-as-assault-on-lebanon-continues">https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/22/hezbollah-attack-kills-one-in-north-israel-as-assault-on-lebanon-continues</a>
Nathan Brown on &ldquo;Israel&rsquo;s Forever Wars&rdquo; - <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/middle-east/diwan/2026/03/dominance-degradation-and-debilitation">https://carnegieendowment.org/middle-east/diwan/2026/03/dominance-degradation-and-debilitation</a>
Land for peace concept - <a href="https://archive.unescwa.org/land-peace-principle">https://archive.unescwa.org/land-peace-principle</a>
Foundation for Defense of Democracy on &ldquo;Peace for Land&rdquo; - <a href="https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2026/01/23/peace-for-land-not-land-for-peace/">https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2026/01/23/peace-for-land-not-land-for-peace/</a>
The book Beware of Small States - <a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/david-hirst/beware-of-small-states/9780786744411/?lens=bold-type-books">https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/david-hirst/beware-of-small-states/9780786744411/?lens=bold-type-books</a>
The Fire These Times podcast - <a href="https://thefirethesetimes.com/">https://thefirethesetimes.com/</a>

Israel’s Attack on Lebanon

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/0fb199a0-a194-4e90-9ad4-b417018371e1/transcript

During the Civil Rights Era, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans was one of the most liberal courts in the United States. It became an ally of the Civil Rights Movement that knocked down Jim Crow laws across the Deep South. But because of a string of appointments by conservative presidents starting with Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, it has transformed into one of the country’s most reactionary judicial bodies, with rulings that banned drag shows, endangered nationwide access to the so-called “abortion pill,” and threatened to give domestic abusers access to handguns. This episode looks at how the Fifth Circuit turned into the scariest court in America -- and in particular the career of one extremist judge, James Ho, who one day might end up on the United States Supreme Court. 

Sources: 

Jack Bass,  “John Minor Wisdom, Appeals Court Judge Who Helped to End Segregation, Dies at 93,” New York Times, May 16, 1999,https://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/16/us/john-minor-wisdom-appeals-court-judge-who-helped-to-end-segregation-dies.html

Jonathan Entin, “The Surprising History of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals,” Governing, January 23, 2024, https://www.governing.com/policy/the-surprising-history-of-the-5th-circuit-court-of-appeals.

Eleanor Klibanoff,  “Again and again, U.S. Supreme Court slaps down 5th Circuit,” The Texas Tribune, July 3, 2024, https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/supreme-court-5th-circuit-court-rulings-texas-overturned/

Mattathias Schwartz, “This Federal Judge Is the ‘Tip of the Spear’ of Trump-Era Conservatism,” New York Times, August 9, 2025,https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/09/us/judge-ho-trump-border.html

During the Civil Rights Era, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans was one of the most liberal courts in the United States. It became an ally of the Civil Rights Movement that knocked down Jim Crow laws across the Deep South. But because of a string of appointments by conservative presidents starting with Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, it has transformed into one of the country&rsquo;s most reactionary judicial bodies, with rulings that banned drag shows, endangered nationwide access to the so-called &ldquo;abortion pill,&rdquo; and threatened to give domestic abusers access to handguns. This episode looks at how the Fifth Circuit turned into the scariest court in America -- and in particular the career of one extremist judge, James Ho, who one day might end up on the United States Supreme Court.&nbsp;
Sources:&nbsp;
Jack Bass,&nbsp; &ldquo;John Minor Wisdom, Appeals Court Judge Who Helped to End Segregation, Dies at 93,&rdquo; New York Times, May 16, 1999, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/16/us/john-minor-wisdom-appeals-court-judge-who-helped-to-end-segregation-dies.html">https://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/16/us/john-minor-wisdom-appeals-court-judge-who-helped-to-end-segregation-dies.html</a>
Jonathan Entin, &ldquo;The Surprising History of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals,&rdquo;&nbsp;Governing, January 23, 2024, <a href="https://www.governing.com/policy/the-surprising-history-of-the-5th-circuit-court-of-appeals">https://www.governing.com/policy/the-surprising-history-of-the-5th-circuit-court-of-appeals</a>.
Eleanor Klibanoff,&nbsp; &ldquo;Again and again, U.S. Supreme Court slaps down 5th Circuit,&rdquo; <a href="https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/categories/texas-tribune/">The Texas Tribune</a>, July 3, 2024, <a href="https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/supreme-court-5th-circuit-court-rulings-texas-overturned/">https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/supreme-court-5th-circuit-court-rulings-texas-overturned/</a>
Mattathias Schwartz, &ldquo;This Federal Judge Is the &lsquo;Tip of the Spear&rsquo; of Trump-Era Conservatism,&rdquo; New York Times, August 9, 2025, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/09/us/judge-ho-trump-border.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/09/us/judge-ho-trump-border.html</a>

The Scariest Court in America feat. Steven Monacelli & Dr. Michael Phillips

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/caac3632-1f8c-4fe4-a622-b416017e2d7b/transcript

Paramount, Warner Bros. and How Monopolies Ruin Everything

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